When I joined BCIT on August 31, 1992, I was in my late 20’s. I had been married for 4 years and we had a baby girl who was just over a year old. I started as an Intermediate Systems Analyst in the Computer Resources department at BCIT. My main responsibilities were to work on creating data structures for reporting from the Banner Student ERP. We took data from the Oracle database running on an RS6000 AIX minicomputer and ftp’d it to an IBM 360 mainframe. We used Information Builder’s FOCUS 4GL language to build reports and enable our business users to create adhoc queries.

I was able to see first hand how technology moved from a novelty tool for higher education to a must have capability that enables our higher education enterprises. It’s been a great ride so far and I can’t wait to see what the next 10 years will bring.

Now twenty years later, I have progressed through being a Senior Systems Analyst, Team Leader, Enterprise Architect and Manager of Business Applications. I will turn 50 later this year, my wife will have been stuck with me for 25 years and my children (girl and boy) are in university! In another few weeks, I will move to the other side of the planet to take on my next role as IT Director at the American University of Sharjah.

The best part of my time at BCIT has been the amazing people I have had the chance to work with and to serve. I can’t thank the great folks at BCIT and in the higher education sector enough. Here’s to the next milestone!